The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of geranium plant botanically known as Pelargonium zonale, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name `Fistangoli`.
`Fistangoli` is a product of a planned breeding program which had the objective of creating new geranium varieties with the bright purple flower color known from the commercial variety `Kardinal` (unpatented), in combination with semi-double flowers and low, compact plant habit.
`Fistangoli` was originated from a hybridization made by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in a controlled breeding program in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain, in 1993. The female parent was a hybrid seedling, designated no. 876/2, derived from a cross of a tetraploid line of `Kardinal` with a hybrid seedling of unknown parentage, designated no. 2198/2, which was characterized by pink semi-double flowers, dark-green foliage and compact growth. `Kardinal` has single purple flowers with orange markings, medium green, nicely zoned foliage and vigorous growth, but poor branching characteristics. The male parent of `Fistangoli` was the commercial variety `Americana Violet` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,750), which was characterized by purple flowers, light to medium-green foliage with weak zonation, and compact growth.
`Fistangoli` was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in 1994 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
The first act of asexual reproduction of `Fistangoli` was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in autumn 1994 in a controlled environment in Galdar, Gran Canaria, Spain by Angelika Utecht. Horticultural examination of plants grown from these cuttings, initiated in May 1996 in Hillscheid, Federal Republic of Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for `Fistangoli` are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.